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May 31, 2017

Genetic studies on Italians often say that Northerners are "closer" to Central and Northern Europeans while Southerners are "closer" to Middle Easterners and North Africans. Technically that's true because of simple geography, but it's misleading because it makes it seem like they cluster with those distant populations, which is false. All Italians cluster with other populations from Southern Europe.

This new study is mainly about Peloponnesean Greeks and how they haven't changed much since ancient times, but they also happen to be the group of Greeks who are genetically closest to Southern Italians. In addition to 5 Italian samples from all over the country, the study also has a large sample of Spaniards (including Andalusians from the south), who are genetically closest to Northern Italians.

Confirming manyotherstudies, this PCA plot shows that the Italian samples — Lombards (labeled "Italians"), Venetians, Tuscans (including "TSI"), and Sicilians — cluster in a North-to-South cline between the Spanish and Greek samples, i.e. Southwestern and Southeastern Europe on the map. (Sardinians, as always, are outliers because of their almost purely Neolithic farmer ancestry.)

In these plots, with the Peloponnesean Greeks (in red) acting as a proxy for the southernmost Italians (and therefore all Italians and Southern Europeans in general), we can see that they're genetically distinct from all non-European populations of Western Eurasia, North Africa and beyond.

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Genetic studies on Italians often say that Northerners are "closer" to Central and Northern Europeans while Southerners are "closer" to Middle Easterners and North Africans. Technically that's true because of simple geography, but it's misleading because it makes it seem like they cluster with those distant populations, which is false."

It is genetically true as well. But that does not mean Northern Italians cluster with Northern Europeans nor Southern Europeans with Middle Easterners or North Africans on a West Eurasian scale.

All Italians cluster with other populations from Southern Europe.

Well, Northern Italians are genetically fairly close to non-Basque Southern French, so it would be misleading to talk about Southern Europe as a genetically homogeneous entity.

1. I surely cannot be the only person who sees subtle biases or agendas in studies. We see studies by proud Hellenic scientists debunking the myth that the Ancient Greeks were replaced by Slavs during Ottoman times. We see studies by proud Israeli scientists debunking the myth that modern Jews don't have sufficient connections to the Mid East. That is all well and good. Sometimes though I get a little upset at the studies from Northern Italians, Celtic descendants all, who focus on the "otherness" of Southern Italians. It's really depressing. Northern Italians have this psychological need to differentiate themselves from southerners because people give all Italians grief about perceived Southern Italian criminality. Very sad.

2. I think generally, people underestimate the amount of gene flow FROM Italy to other regions that occurred in Roman times. From the time of the late Roman Republic through early Imperial times -- hundreds of years -- Southern Italians formed the bulk of the Roman army, and also served as mercenaries in foreign armies. Merchants, colonists, garrisons, etc. of Roman heritage would look like today's Southern Italians, because Northern Italy until late Roman times was considered effectively Gaul.

Sure! First, Ronald Syme is one of the the foremost authorities on the Roman Republic who ever published. His books are everywhere, and you can pick them up anywhere. For his major book, The Roman Revolution, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

JB Bury is one of the foremost authorities on the late Roman Emperor who was ever published. While he wasn't knighted :-) you can also find his stuff anywhere.

Chris Wickham is lesser known, but still has published many books on this issue. Here is a link to the one that has all the stats: